Macca
Active Member
I'm sure as a group of people interested in herps, many of you would be aware of the crisis facing amphibians worldwide. However, I'm sure many aren't aware of exactly how bad the situation is and what is currently being done to save these endangered animals.
In Australia alone, we have lost 8 species of frogs to extinction in the last thirty years, including the world's only two species of Gastric-brooding Frog. Many others, including Australia's brightly coloured Corroboree Frogs, are bordering narrowly on the edge, with extinction almost imminent without the interevention of zoos, who are currently working intensively on these species. In fact, a quarter of Australia's frogs are on the threatened species list.
Worldwide, amphibians are suffering a rate of extinction that has not been seen since the dinosaurs. One-third to one-half of the world's species could become extinct during our lifetimes. If you would like to learn more about this, please watch the video link below, by Kevin Zippel, the program director of the Amphibian ARK.
[video=youtube;baClbjVWn2I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baClbjVWn2I&feature=related[/video]
This year 2008, has been declared Year of the Frog in an effort to raise awareness and funding, in order to save the world's species of amphibians that most require capitve ex-situ management for their survival. If you would like to help this cause, please check out the amphibianark website (www.amphibianark.org) to learn more and if you so wish, donate generously. Targets have been set this year in order to raise enough money to build facilities for some of Australia's most endangered frogs.
For those of you who are not aware of current frog conservation activities, it is worth knowing that some of Australia's key wildlife institutions, including Taronga Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary, Perth Zoo and the Amphibian Research Centre, each are working tirelessy to save some of Australia's most endangered frogs, including the Corroboree Frogs, Booroolong Frogs, Spotted Tree Frog etc. However, in order to expand into other institutions, more funds are needed which can be achieved by donating, or encouraging other to do so, to www.amphibianark.org.
Cheers,
Michael
In Australia alone, we have lost 8 species of frogs to extinction in the last thirty years, including the world's only two species of Gastric-brooding Frog. Many others, including Australia's brightly coloured Corroboree Frogs, are bordering narrowly on the edge, with extinction almost imminent without the interevention of zoos, who are currently working intensively on these species. In fact, a quarter of Australia's frogs are on the threatened species list.
Worldwide, amphibians are suffering a rate of extinction that has not been seen since the dinosaurs. One-third to one-half of the world's species could become extinct during our lifetimes. If you would like to learn more about this, please watch the video link below, by Kevin Zippel, the program director of the Amphibian ARK.
[video=youtube;baClbjVWn2I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baClbjVWn2I&feature=related[/video]
This year 2008, has been declared Year of the Frog in an effort to raise awareness and funding, in order to save the world's species of amphibians that most require capitve ex-situ management for their survival. If you would like to help this cause, please check out the amphibianark website (www.amphibianark.org) to learn more and if you so wish, donate generously. Targets have been set this year in order to raise enough money to build facilities for some of Australia's most endangered frogs.
For those of you who are not aware of current frog conservation activities, it is worth knowing that some of Australia's key wildlife institutions, including Taronga Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary, Perth Zoo and the Amphibian Research Centre, each are working tirelessy to save some of Australia's most endangered frogs, including the Corroboree Frogs, Booroolong Frogs, Spotted Tree Frog etc. However, in order to expand into other institutions, more funds are needed which can be achieved by donating, or encouraging other to do so, to www.amphibianark.org.
Cheers,
Michael
